Indian Football: 3 mistakes of Stephen Constantine new coach Igor Stimac should not repeat

It is four months since British coach Stephen Constantine had put his pen on papers. The All Indian Football Federation appointed Croatian Igor Stimac as the new head coach and the new coach has already started his work by naming the list of 37 probables for the preparatory camp.

Speaking to www.the-aiff.com, Stimac said: “I respected the choice of the squad which represented India in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. The rest of the players have been added post my research watching Hero I-League and Hero ISL matches. I found some players quite interesting, and have summoned them to the camp.”

“I congratulate all the players, and wish them good luck,” he added. “I am eagerly waiting to land in New Delhi, and get on the task immediately. I have always cherished new challenges, and I am looking forward to coaching the Blue Tigers,” he added.

However, there are few areas which harmed India’s reputation during Constantine’s tenure. As the new head coach, Stimac must look at this carefully and should not repeat the mistakes.

In this article, we point out 3 such areas that needs to be taken care of:

#3 Rigid playing style - no Plan B

For the last year, India’s performance surprised their opponents, who were much better in terms of rankings. The game against China or the second half display against Jordan was enough to prove this claim.

India thrashing of Thailand in the opener of AFC Asian Cup was another example of ‘New India’. There is no denying of the fact that it happened under their former coach Stephen Constantine. It was only after the next two losses that we came to know how flawed Constantine’s game-plan was.

Take the example of the match against China. Nobody thought India could win. However, despite facing some big players and a renowned coach on the opposite side, India kept their fight until the last minute and could’ve left the field with smile on their faces. India were on the verge of creating history, yet they were bogged down by a primitive strategy by their British coach.

India fielded a depleted side in the match against Jordan and in the first half, it was clear that they were forced to play the match. The scenario changed in the second half and suddenly the visiting side started attacking and eventually reduced the margin. The question that was discussed for long after the match was why they were so defensive in the first half?

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Everybody know what happened against UAE and Bahrain. We shouldn’t waste more time on that.

Defensive. This is the only word that should be thrown out from the team when Stimac takes over the team physically. This Indian team has the ability to play attacking, dynamic football. They have talented midfielders, a phenomenal striker and yes, some famous defenders too. They have every right to show the world what they are capable of.